Arsenal were overwhelmed in Manchester City’s ruthless performance in inflicting a 3-0 defeat which highlighted the crisis at the London club. Freddie Ljungberg, Arsenal’s caretaker manager, said about his position: “I’ve said to them (Directors) I am very honoured but they need to make a decision. I’ve said I think it needs to be cleared up, to make a decision, so everybody knows.”
He added: “I try to do things as good as I can but I think as well it would be good to make a decision regardless of what it is. I am an Arsenal man and I’ll try everything but at the same time we have to be realistic. There is a gulf between City and Liverpool (leading the table) and the rest of us.”
Adding to his problems was the poor performance and attitude of star player, Mesut Ozil, who was replaced after 59 minutes. Ljungberg said: “I took Mesut off because I wanted some more energy in the team. How he reacts is up to him and we will deal with it later.” He went on to say: “I’m here on a day-to-day basis but of course we want players in the right way.”
The Germany midfielder had reacted angrily throwing and kicking his gloves away.
Away from the game, Ozil has been in the spotlight after bravely standing up for the Muslim Uighur community’s treatment in China on social media. It irked Chinese authorities to the extent that the state media banned Arsenal’s match from being shown on TV.
Manchester City were brilliant and brutal in their attack which brought three superb goals in the first half. Outstanding in their performance was playmaker Kevin De Bruyne who scored twice and made one for Raheem Stirling. City began at a furious pace. The build up for the first goal came with Fernandinho running 60 yards unchallenged before passing to Gabriel Jesus, who beat Callum Chambers and crossed for the rushing De Bruyne to send a wonderful half volley into the roof of the net in only the second minute.
The second goal came in the 16th minute with a fine team effort. Rodrigo passed to Phil Foden who in turn fed De Bruyne for the midfielder to pull back to Stirling for a simple tap in. Five minutes before half-time De Bruyne made it three. He was given too much space as Arsenal stood off him, Matteo Guendouzi failed to make a challenge and the Belgian fired a low shot into the far corner.
City coach, Pep Guardiola was delighted with his team’s display and particularly with De Bruyne. He said: “We spoke to him about scoring goals and he scored two incredible goals and one assist for Raheem. He is an extraordinary player. He sees passes and actions normal human beings cannot see, having a special vision.”
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